Patinack Farm

Patinack Farm held their stallion parade on Friday night at their Sandy Hollow stallion property. Held under lights and with Moroccan themed cuisine keeping guests fed and warm, the thinking outside the square approach was a great success and is sure to be copied in future.

The New South Wales based stallions Beautiful Crown, Casino Prince, Husson, new boy Lope de Vega, Murtajill and Raheeb were paraded in great order. All are eligible for the Patinack bonus scheme with the exception of Beautiful Crown.

Vinery

Vinery

Vinery Stud held parades on Saturday and Sunday mornings. The Saturday parade was held under overcast skies with the rain somehow kept at bay. There was a real buzz to the parade with such an outstanding selection of stallions. Peter Orton welcomed guests and commented on the need to keep the Valley free from the double threat of more coal mining and the new mining option Coal Seam Gas, before handing over to Adam White who took us through the parade in knowledgeable style.

Big Brown impressed, the Kentucky Derby winner looking every inch a super horse. The established stars More Than Ready, Testa Rossa and Mossman all have proven themselves and the up and comers like Benicio, Dubleo and Excites give real balance to the roster. Apart from Big Brown and Onemorenomore who are both in their second year at Vinery Australia, more recent additions to the team include: Congrats, the Champion First Season Sire in the US; and Prix Morny winner Myboycharlie.

Our thanks to Vinery for an excellent parade and a fine breakfast!

Arrowfield

It was then a short drive up the road to Arrowfield following the completion of the Vinery parade and here we were welcomed by Arrowfield principal John Messara. John reiterated Peter Orton’s message about land use and mining, and welcomed a special guest in local parliamentarian and Racing and Tourism Minister, George Souris.

Handing over to commentator Susan Archer, and roving interviewer Jon Freyer, the parade went like clockwork. The threat of rain was heavy in the air, but miraculously, and again, all managed to stay dry.

Beneteau was introduced as the new boy on the roster and he is truly a handsome individual. Those who have seen him at the track can attest to that. Not A Single Doubt looked physically awesome and an interesting interview by Jon Freyer with Andrew Reichard showed up some interesting statistics on his early season runners and how he was identified very early as potentially a top stallion. And that has happened.

All American has returned from his stint at Darby Dan Farm in the US and he is the first stallion to do the “reverse” shuttle from Australia to America.

Arrowfield

On a roster which also includes Flying Spur, Manhattan Rain and Starcraft, as well as the separately housed Charge Forward (the alpha male scenario has been explained many times but Charge Forward does not abide the company of other stallions, so he lives up the road at Bellerive), the last to parade was the champion stallion Redoute’s Choice who once again has had another stellar year with 2010/11 stakes winners including Absolutely and King’s Rose wining Group 1’s, Melito and Rekindled Interest winning Group 2’s and Drumbeats, Sister Madly and Zingaling winning Group 3’s.

Great roster, wonderful hospitality.